It's an ill will she blows this morning, ladies and men. We are stone cold frozen, indoors, outdoors and in the western conference. The blues aren't blue enough, the country tear-jerkers can't find the lines, the poets can't stop the clocks in rhyme.

The Battle of Alberta is desolation row.

BUT WE'LL GET THERE BEFORE THEM!

Really? REALLY? The tortoise and the hare had a point to their story, I'm not sure 'one frozen bubble against another one' will galvanize our collective spirits in Alberta province.

Is there ANY good news? And don't tell me the draft!

CALGARY FLAMES PROJECTED LINEUP

TJ Galiardi-Mikael Backlund-Jiri Hudler

Mike Cammalleri-Sean Monahan-Joe Colborne

Lance Bouma-Matt Stajan-David Jones

Paul Byron-Markus Granlund-Kevin Westgarth

TJ Brodie-Mark Giordano

Kris Russell-Derek Smith

Ladislav Smid-Dennis Wideman

Reto Berra

The Flames have some good hockey players heading out tonight, and some of them will be playing their last game with the fiery C. Mike Cammalleri should get significant interest, young Backlund has once again overcome major obstacles and the all-Canadian Monahan looks sharp in every photo. The Flames Corsi for % 5x5 is 45.2%, fourth worst in the league but there are some champions in the group:

Galiardi 50.8%

Giordano 50.5%

Backlund 49.4%

Brodie 49.3%

Cammalleri 49.2%

The complete list is here and it is worth noting Calgary has only three position players who have been on the ice for more than 300 minutes while posting a sub 43% Corsi for 5x5 %.

EDMONTON OILERS PROJECTED LINEUP

Hall-Nuge-Hemsky

Perron-Gagner-Eberle

Hendricks-Gordon-Joensuu

Jones-Smyth-Gazdic

Marincin-Petry

N Schultz-J Schultz

Ference-Belov

Bryzgalov

Nail Yakupov's injury isn't considered serious, but it's also likely they hold him back for tonight's game. Do the Oilers have some good news, something similar to the Flames' men who are close to 50% or better Corsi for 5x5?

The Oilers Corsi for 5x5% is 43.3%, they are one below Calgary in the race (don't you laugh, Toronto only Buffalo saves you!)

Martin Marincin 50.2%

The numbers are here. Edmonton has five players who have been on the ice for more than 300 minutes while also posting a sub 43% Corsi for 5x5 %.

SOME SWEET DAY

History tells us this will not last. Calgary will have a fine trade deadline, add some picks and prospects and live to fight another day. Edmonton appears to have invested heavily in hiring a new coach each season, so the only impressive thing is the number of first overall selections on their roster.

Calgary and Edmonton are driving toward that goal this summer, first overall. In that race, Edmonton is judge, jury and executioner. For Oiler fans, the promise of a first overall pick is like a kick in the junk, a stomach turner, a false spring.

The Flames should learn the lesson presented to them by Edmonton—it's pretty damn hard to come back quickly from scorched earth, even when good soil lies all about you.

GAME DAY PREDICTION: Flames and Oilers play to a 1-1 tie and no one can score in the shootout. Finally, Ladislav Smid drives in over the blueline and goes shelf on a very surprised Ilya Bryzgalov.

OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION: Flames win 5-1, on 5 shorthanded goals. All by Smid.

NOT-SO-OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION: CBC's After Hours becomes trade central as both Mike Cammalleri and Ales Hemsky are sent to Pittsburgh right after the game.

Lowetide has been one of the Oilogosphere's shining lights for over a century. You can check him out here at OilersNation and at lowetide.ca. He is also the host of Lowdown with Lowetide weekday mornings 10-noon on TSN 1260.

It's clear Eakins can't coach in the NHL. He wants the players to play his system but they're not built to win 1-0 games. He doesn't have the personnel to play that style. Krueger was more successful because he played a system according to their strengths. If a newbie fan was watching the Oil play under this system, they would never know that Hall, RNH, and Yak were 1st overall picks.

while looking up at the rafters I noticed a huge gap in the banners. from '92 to 06'there were none.when did we get that city of champions sign and how long until we can release the curse. eskimos aren't what they were.oilers bite.no baseball team.i know the sign was for other than sport reasons but maybe it's our billy goat and I hate being a cubs fan.let's tear down the signs and hope for the best. boy was that 2nd period brutal.

Take it easy on Eakins boys. How many coaches would've faired better when 80 of their 82 game schedule is against teams above them in the standings? Dallas must've been saddled with the worlds toughest schedule.

If these last two games aren't a shining example of a team who wants to gas their coach, then I don't know what is.

I've tried to be rational with the Eakins situation, but he is seriously not an NHL coach. This game was so evident of that; I've never seen a team run into each other so much on ridiculous plays that never would have caused a scoring chance. Seriously, why isn't there someone at the front of the net in the offensive zone? Heck, why isn't someone in front of the net in the defensive zone? Eakins is a total idiot, and the defense still sucks.

I used to say "we" when I was talking about the Oilers. Now I just can't associate myself with a bunch of perennial losers who refuse to play anything close to resembling hockey. I always wonder when they're going to hit rock bottom, and from the looks of it, they're still in the free-fall.

I've said it since about game 10, but I really think the Oilers players gave up early on playing for Eakins. I think it's possible the breaking point was likely the treatment of Yakupov early in the season, imo.

The players were all gifted long term 42 million dollar contracts, can't really blame them for thinking they are in charge.

Unfortunately for Eakins his value is far less than the young guns, bit of a mismatch really.

I'm a pretty old school hockey guy, but I have to ask is anyone else done with the staged fights? I love me some high energy, high tempo, physical hockey. When that naturally evolves into a fight there is nothing quite as electric. But the whole goon role, staged fights really does nothing for me these days.

I've said it since about game 10, but I really think the Oilers players gave up early on playing for Eakins. I think it's possible the breaking point was likely the treatment of Yakupov early in the season, imo.

The players were all gifted long term 42 million dollar contracts, can't really blame them for thinking they are in charge.

Unfortunately for Eakins his value is far less than the young guns, bit of a mismatch really.

Unfortunately for Eakins his value is far less than the young guns, bit of a mismatch really.

That is not what Mac T, his mother and the mirror on the wall is telling him.

I also wonder if it's another tank job in Edmonton too. Seems pretty obvious that Eakins isn't the right guy for the job, why not ride it out and bow to public pressure by firing him at the end of season? Get another top 2 pick minimum out of the equation, and Northlands is still full every night. Hmmm.

I think Mac T has done ok as well, at least he is trying, the ego of Eakins and his "look at me and how smart I am crap has been old with the players and the fans since about when you said, also about when Smid was traded.

I won't disagree, Hall seems like a manchild. But Monahan will never come close to Hall at their respective peaks.

Monahan's 18, don't be too quick to judge him. And when you say "never come close to", I assume you mean offensively, because Monahan is already a far superior 2way player, and he's only going to get better.

Crosby, Toews, and Malkin are all great possession players who are as good in their own end as in the offensive zone. Hall, when he has a chance to hustle back and break up a 3-on-1, changes. When his own team is hemmed in its own end, he's out at the red line cherry-picking. Seriously, there's a damned good reason Team Canada took Kunitz over Hall.

Monahan is still just 19 so it's too early to say what kind of player he'll turn out to be. Currently, he still needs a lot of shelter to score. Fortunately for the Flames, playing against Hall counts as "shelter".

"Crosby, Toews, and Malkin are all great possession players who are as good in their own end as in the offensive zone."

I really hope you were kidding when you mentioned Malkin in that category. The guy is about as big of a defensive liability as you can get. His backchecking consists of him taking 2 strides back and going back to the bench.

The Oilers Suck Worse Than This Cold Snap and this cold snap really blows. I mean like honestly its horrible, you can't do anything can't even hack a dart without freezing to death in 30 seconds, vehicles wont start without being plugged in, homeless people are in grave danger of dieing from hypothermia, water mains are bursting around the city its complete and udder misery! But.... still better than the oilers because K Lowe and the old boys on the bus are not in charge of the weather so I have faith that it will get better eventually! Unlike the sad state of our blessed hockey team whom are stuck in a cellar vortex with no heat wave in site :( FML

I've tried to be rational with the Eakins situation, but he is seriously not an NHL coach. This game was so evident of that; I've never seen a team run into each other so much on ridiculous plays that never would have caused a scoring chance. Seriously, why isn't there someone at the front of the net in the offensive zone? Heck, why isn't someone in front of the net in the defensive zone? Eakins is a total idiot, and the defense still sucks.

I used to say "we" when I was talking about the Oilers. Now I just can't associate myself with a bunch of perennial losers who refuse to play anything close to resembling hockey. I always wonder when they're going to hit rock bottom, and from the looks of it, they're still in the free-fall.

I've said it since about game 10, but I really think the Oilers players gave up early on playing for Eakins. I think it's possible the breaking point was likely the treatment of Yakupov early in the season, imo.

The players were all gifted long term 42 million dollar contracts, can't really blame them for thinking they are in charge.

Unfortunately for Eakins his value is far less than the young guns, bit of a mismatch really.

Eakins is not a player coach, it's his style and his way or the hiway. Talented players doesn't like to play for him, Eakins like plumbers and grinding players, he like the career AHL players.
Eakins pissed Kadri off in Toronto, he called him fat and over weight. Eakins now running Yakupov out of town in Edmonton too. Eakins took old Oilers team photos off dressing room (Gretzky, Messier are god there) so now this team has noone to look up to. Eakins took away the donuts and goodies, then kids love junk foods. Watch what Eakins does not what Eakins says, he's all talk but he can't deliver. Eakins does not compromise, players will not play for him. You can see the body language of their plays on the ice after the first 10 games.

Wow... If Buffalo wins the two games it has in hand on the Oilers, they'll be tied with Edmonton for last in the league. Oilers 30th overall again this year? I certainly wouldn't make a bet against it happening.

MacT is going to have a helluva time convincing free agents to sign in EDM, and any momentum we had with the current rebuild has been squandered. Change is needed, top to bottom... How is this not clear yet to Darryl?

Katz is killing the franchise and legacy of the team he claims to cherish. Until he takes some responsibility and deals with the problem, he IS the problem for this team.

Eakins major flaw IMO is a rather tenuous grasp of reality. After every game I hear his comments and analysis and it never seems to make any kind of sense relative to the game I just watched. If you as coach can't see the problems how do you expect to fix them?

Hall's point totals be darned. He sucks. Every play seems to end with him giving the puck away. He looks like a graduate of the 'Slip and Fall Hockey School for Pete's sake. Based on the lack of effort and professionalism I say no one in the top 6 on this team is necessarily untouchable.

This season is such a torture for me since I was wanting Eakins to be fired after just 3 games. Back in October when I said that, others were telling me to be patient and it was just 3 games into the season...

Well...

Now,62 games into the season...

How can everyone be so blind? Look at Jets! They fired the coach and now they are resurrected and chasing for a playoffs spot. You can never be too late to fire a coach, there is never such a thing that give coach time to let him do his work. It is either a coach can bring out the best of the players or in Eakins case, the worst of the players.

It is never too late to fire a coach, even it is only 20 games left to go. At this point, you still need to salvage whatever has left from this sorry bunch of so-called professional athletes. The boldest move that MacT can do is admit his mistake of hiring Eakins and move on. Since MacT is also gutless to do that, we will not be expecting him to perform any miracles.

Hey Eakins, you know what is impossible to defend.No, not your pitiful powerplay.A coach that says his powerplay will be impossible to defend.Especially if said coach is on a 29th soon to be last place team.

Please don't keep him as coach to avoid change keep him because he earned it.He has not.

I have long been a disciple of getting Eakins some help by hiring an experienced associate coach. But honestly, I now think we are not one associate coach away from cleaning this mess. The entire coaching staff must be changed. And this time for the head-coaching job, MacT needs to interview more than one candidate.

I have long been a disciple of getting Eakins some help by hiring an experienced associate coach. But honestly, I now think we are not one associate coach away from cleaning this mess. The entire coaching staff must be changed. And this time for the head-coaching job, MacT needs to interview more than one candidate.

The only help for Eakins and the Oil is ...help out the freaking door along with Sam Gone-yeah and about 6 or 8 assorted pieces of dead wood.

Eakins said a few months ago that this team is defensively challenged. Then just the other day he said this team is offensively challenged. At the start he employed the swarm???? and changed to what I don't know. Next he destroyed the confidence of Yak. Then he proceeded to rejig the power play so that what was once a strength is now a weakness. My mouth fills with vomit when I hear Eakins supporters say we need continuity. The only continuity Eakins has brought is losing. It is painfully obvious this team needs a veteran coach that can teach just the basics. MacT do the right thing and can this useless piece of shi?!
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Can we take the whole team to the vet and euthanize them? I honestly can't see any other option.

They're all a bunch of misguided fools out there. For all you clowns that think it's not on Eakins, imagine if Babcock or Hitchcock were the coach of this team...... Don't compare Eakins to Kruger, compare him to elite coaches. That's our competition.

Can we take the whole team to the vet and euthanize them? I honestly can't see any other option.

They're all a bunch of misguided fools out there. For all you clowns that think it's not on Eakins, imagine if Babcock or Hitchcock were the coach of this team...... Don't compare Eakins to Kruger, compare him to elite coaches. That's our competition.

The sad part is "the braintrust" could of had Hitchcock multiple times and did not hire him.It is understandable they don't hire better hockey people than themselves.The only thing "the braintrust" is good at is job preservation.

Stumbling through the stabbing pain of a -40 windchill, to sit for nearly three hours in a shabby arena chewing on cold overpriced hot dogs to watch millionaires bumping into each other in a laughable pantomime of professional hockey, is beyond excruciating.

Renney should never have been fired. And he quickly found work with a real hockey organization in Detroit, which confirms that fact. Kruger should never have been fired. And he quickly found work with a gold medal hockey organization, which confirms that fact. Eakins SHOULD be fired, but he won't be, because it would confirm the colossal blunder that MacT made with his first GM decision. And MacT isn't bold enough to admit it.

And if he did get fired, can anyone imagine a professional hockey organization above the minor leagues giving Eakins a second glance? Not likely.

The only consolation I have right now is the Oilers are stuck playing 15 of their last 22 games of this embarrassing season at home. That means they have to suffer through most of this bone-chilling cold with the rest of us.

My biggest challenge will be finding takers for my tickets, which I don't think I can bring myself to use.

Why the hell was KBlow interviewed after the Olympics? Everyone knows he had nothing to do with Canada winning gold. He was there to fetch beers for real hockey minds like Yzerman, Babcock etc. If he's that much of a " winner" and a genius putting together legendary teams why are we in 29th place? Or out of playoffs for 8 straight years? Please Lowe, have some dignity and resign now. Please!!!'

The coaching of Bob Hartley has been overlooked. He has taken a group of AHLers and made them competitive on most nights. And when I say Hartley, I mean his entire coaching staff. They are consistent and unified in their approach, unlike the Oilers who have a career AHLer behind the bench with Oilers alumni. With the exception of Gelinas, not one ex-Flame behind the bench. Note to MacT: ignore Lowe's direction to hire his old buddies and look for qualified coaches not endeared to the POHO.

It's clear Eakins can't coach in the NHL. He wants the players to play his system but they're not built to win 1-0 games. He doesn't have the personnel to play that style. Krueger was more successful because he played a system according to their strengths. If a newbie fan was watching the Oil play under this system, they would never know that Hall, RNH, and Yak were 1st overall picks.

1. the same as Krueger, Renney and so on also can't coach in the NHL. Not saying he's the best, or even defending him, but seriously, when is Edmonton going to recognize and accept that ITS the PLAYERS!

2. Sure if we were playing Junior/World Juniors here the Halls and Eberle's are Superstars, but we're not. And the problem with the Oilers, amongst many, are that these guys have not progressed beyond that style, unable or unwilling to be coached and learn. Get rid of some of the "core' and get some NHL team players!

3. In other, earlier posts were some comments about Mohan vs. the Oilers "stars". Now Monohan's just starting and no one is sure what he'll become so I'm not saying he'll be the greatest, but I sure am liking what I'm seeing so far. Watching them all kind of reminds me of a skills comparison comparison between Ovechkin and Toews. Ovie is super-talented, great offensive player, but one-dimensional. Toews also great on offence, but also great on defence, face-offs, leadership and team play. Ovie can draw crowds with his sic skills and make highlight reels, but Toews draws Cups and Championships with his sic, but less-visible skills.

4. Overall getting sad to see Edmonton play. No fire in the kids at all. Given up. Unwilling to listen and learn. Waste of a lot of talent....

Who was the last Oiler head to coach to get another head coaching job in the NHL who was not hired by Glen Sather? John Muckler that's who.
This teams record of piss poor coach hiring goes back over two decades.

I don't care what anyone says firing Krueger was a HUGE mistake. The team had more holes then it has this year but was playing decent despite the missing pieces. And Krueger was cool enough to say hey I could use an experienced NHL coach to add to the team. So what do they do.. add the so called wonder kid Eakins... Pumped up by guess who Toronto media! If this keeps going we are going to have a real shot at McDavid. No joke.

When it's -40 outside, your team sucks about as bad as a team can suck and the rink is still sold out, explain to me why this organization would give two craps about what anyone on the outside is thinking. Katz makes his money and everyone thinks they are untouchable. Hey, as long as the money is flowing!!

People in this city need to take a genuine stand against this abomination. The only clear demonstration that will get managements attention is not attending these games. Plain and simple!!

It's probably just me & it's only a fraction of what goes on prior to the game, but HNIC showed Hall & Eberle looking and feeling very loose before the game. Kind of like most young kids before any hockey game.

Stories of Bobby Orr while in the midst of a losing streak - a miserable son of a bitch who detested losing and remained that way until the losing ended.

Yeah it's just a game but the Oilers pregame face seems like they are steps away from either winning the cup or thinking about the bar scene after the game.

Yes tension makes you grip the stick tighter but maybe some signs of frustration will lead to acts of desperation and try to win at all cost?

The CBC commentators noted how structured and fast paced the Flames practices were. The Oilers meanwhile had an optional skate. Kind of telling how far we are from having NHL caliber coaching and management. Sad when the highlight of any game is watching Mr. No- Donuts stare vacantly into space after every goal.

Healys comments tonight regarding Edmonton's interest in doing the same thing to New Rexall as they did to the arena in Socchi with the outside lighting on the building. Klowe/six rings/poho is looking into the technology.I for one loved it. What a great way to advertise and promote. I for one think it would look great in Edmonton.

Yes, that would be cool. But, I believe the new rink is a cost+ type of project, which means any change orders after the sign off on the draft plan means ye shall pay through the nose. Add perhaps $100M to the price?

If they do do it, it would just be a reflection on the over-all managements inability to research, and analyze the best product for the job

May not have to fire Eakins. He might quit or tell MacT to get him some real hockey players. Some with some balls and don't mind working up a sweat. You can try and teach all the systems you want but unless the players want to change and put in an effort you're done before you even open the gate. RNH, Perron, Gordon, Hendricks, Gazdic, Marancin Schultz Ferenence and Schrivens are the only keepers of these bunch of pussies. The rest are all AVAILABLE and Hall would lead the parade out of town.